Review by:  
Juandrea Bates
University of Texas at Austin
Empires of the Atlantic World: Britain and Spain in American 1492-1830
J. H Elliottt (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 546 pages

Over seven decades ago Herbert Bolton made a now famous plea for historians to
write an ‘epic of Greater America.’ Since then historians have revolutionized the
historiography of both Latin American and the United States, but made very little
progress in creating the kind of discourse between fields that Bolton desired. In his
masterful work, Empires of the Atlantic World Britain and Spain in America 1492-
1830, J.H. Elliott weaves his extensive knowledge of the development and decline of
Spain’s American empire together with an impressive synthesis of prior scholarship
on British imperialism in the New World to provide the reader with a skillful
comparative study and shed new light on the intersections of these great empires in
the development of the Atlantic World. In doing so, Elliott encourages discourse
between two spheres of inquiry that historians have traditionally viewed in isolation
and, as a result, provides a model for future comparative studies of imperialism.

Elliott conducts this comparative study in three stages. He begins in Part I of his work
by demonstrating how both the political and legal practices in the metropole and
geographic and demographic conditions in the New World shaped development of
the British and Spanish overseas empires. The abundance of silver and a large
indigenous population in Spanish America combined with a legal tradition that gave
the Spanish rights to the land and an obligation to Christianize indigenous
populations, which created a colonial economy that sharply contrasted with that of
British America. Royal interest in the profits that would be derived from those silver
mines fostered a more penetrating imperial presence in Spanish America than in
British North America where a lack of precious metal promoted imperial neglect.

In Part II of his work Elliott examines how these differences continued to shape the
development of power relationships between the metropole and colonies as well as
within the colonies themselves. In these chapters, Elliott demonstrates that Spain’s
direct control over its colonies prevented the development of religious tolerance and
political diversity within its colonies. In contrast, because British politicians constantly
engaged in debates over freedom and representation, they did not present a united
front in interactions with their colonies and promoted political diversity within these
outposts. Elliott also argues that while immigrants frequently migrated to British North
America, particularly New England and the middle colonies, in search of material
improvement, the presence of large indigenous populations, whose labor colonists
exploited, prevented immigration to Spanish America.

Elliott concludes his work in Part III by analyzing how these differences outlined in the
two previous sections affected the deterioration of imperial relationships during the
last half of the 18th century. Elliott demonstrates that the colonies of both Spanish
and British America resented the increased tax burden their metropole imposed
during the 18th century. However, the political freedom that Britain allowed its North
American colonies encouraged them to seek independence first. Furthermore, Elliott
argues that because Britain had a series of other colonial possessions, while
Spanish America constituted the overwhelming majority of Spain’s overseas empire,
Spain felt compelled to fight a much longer, bloodier, and more destructive battle to
keep control of its American territories.

A main component of the book’s strength lies in Elliott’s attempts to create nuanced
discussions of the various micro-worlds contained within each empire. As he cautions
in his introduction, Elliott’s endeavors to encompass vast geographic spaces as well
as such a large time frame prevent the work from including a truly comprehensive
history of any area in the New World. Instead, Elliott provides glimpses into various
colonial spaces throughout the period, such as the numerous viceroyalties of
Spanish America or regional colonial groups in British North America. By conducting
his study in this way, Elliott avoids the trap of many historians who essentialize vast
geographic and demographic diversity into reductionist categories of British North
America or Spanish America. This technique allows Elliott to unveil both the unique
localized traits and larger overarching trends within each empire and throughout the
Atlantic World.

Scholars of British North America and Spanish America will find very little new
scholarship in the work, as Elliott’s strength lies primarily in his ability to synthesize
existing scholarship into a comparative study. Furthermore, because the work
focuses on settler societies, it almost completely ignores the experiences of
indigenous groups or slaves in the Atlantic empires. Nonetheless, while readers can
find multiple works on comparative slavery, Elliott’s text presents a rarity in that it puts
forward a comprehensive and well written comparison of British and Spanish empires
of the Atlantic World while providing valuable insights for students and academics
interested in the colonies of America, imperialism, or the comparative study of
empires.
© Copyright 2007-08 British Scholar. All rights reserved.
Book of the Month
February 2007